No turning back

Boston Globe.

There are many games you can recover from. Seasons, too. But when you lose and lose and lose until your collapse is final and then you miss the playoffs? Well, here’s to recovering from that. The Red Sox finished their downward spiral Wednesday night by losing yet again, and missing the playoffs. The Braves actually had a minor Wild Card collapse too, but everyone’s talking about the Red Sox. I feel for the Red Sox. I remember back in 2007 (this is tough to bring back…actually, not really) when the Mets famously blew their huge NL East lead late in the season and let the Phillies win the division. One you start losing so much, you can’t escape it. For the Mets, they still can’t escape it. Do I think the Red Sox have a better chance of bouncing back? Absolutely. But does their collapse worry me? Yep. It just goes to show that no lead is ever safe. Thanks Yogi.

When the eagle becomes the prey

Steve Smith had a ball bounce out of his hands. Ahmad Bradshaw jumped over the Eagles’ prized free-agent  Nnamdi Asomugha. A punter not named Matt Dodge punted the ball to DeSean Jackson for zero touchdowns. And Michael Vick broke his hand. Ah, redemption is sweet. The Giants beat the Eagles 29-16 today to improve to 2-1, drop the Beagles to 1-2, and put aside their blown lead in a loss from the last time the two played. It’s a new season. It’s still early, but after dropping their first game, the Giants have won two straight. And they actually looked pretty good in this game. There’s nothing better than beating the Eagles. This was a great win, and although there’s still so much season ahead, I don’t mind basking in the glory of it.

From the east to the atlantic coast? Sounds the same. But it doesn’t act the same.

Get an updated logo please.

Okay, what’s going on here. Football teams that are supposed to be losing are winning and vice versa. Syracuse is moving to the ACC. Oh, where to start…. How about Indy, where if I was a Colts fan I’d be very, very worried. Kerry Collins is in no way, shape or form any reincarnation of Peyton Manning. I wish the Colts the best of luck on the season. Boy do they need it. A new QB probably wouldn’t hurt either. In other news, the Redskins are 2-0. Means nothing. Neither does 3-0. Get to 4-0, then we’re talking.

And now, to the biggest news of the day—Syracuse and Pitt to the ACC. Okay, let’s put Pitt aside for a second. Because no one cares about them. They’re clearly second-fiddle in these discussions. Why? Because by leaving the Big East, Syracuse, a founding member, is essentially allowing the conference to sink into a pile of nothingness. First off, we don’t know how long this process will take. Could be a couple years. But let’s look at both angles here. First, the easy part. The cons. And of course, with both of these conferences being basketball heavy (although probably not wanting to admit it), bball comes to my mind first. So Syracuse can say bye to conference games against Georgetown. Bye to the Garden and Big East tournament. Bye to a founding legacy!! Okay, enough drama. They’ll get over it all, and the ACC will probably weasel its way into the Garden somehow. Do I feel bad for the Big East? Sure. But not that bad. It was kind of annoying with half the schools being bball and half football. And Notre Dame just for bball. So now we get to the pros. SU can play UNC and Duke. And Maryland (for my sake). Football (which is most likely at the core of all of this transfer despite these being bball schools) won’t be an improvement as ‘Cuse will be leaving the worst big football conference for the second worst. But, the ACC is now very stable (although the Big East was before ‘Cuse and Pitt decided to leave). Regardless, there are mixed feelings here, and I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s still thinking about this move. Thoughts??

School uniforms

Back in black?

When I was younger, I used to think that the Yankees uniforms were ugly. This of course, was before I knew anything about baseball. Now I know that they’re the epitome of team tradition. Still, I’ve always been drawn to uniforms. If teams got new uniforms, I loved comparing them to the old ones. But now this uniform craze has taken on a life of its own, thanks to college football. It really gained traction with Oregon last year and its whole, ‘Let’s wear a different uniform every game!’ mantra. Fine. A little confusing, but its uniforms were admittedly cool. I’ve been ahead of the curve in talking about uniforms before everyone else crazily caught on. I praised the Wizards’ new unis last May. I’m a fan of going back to classic ways with a touch of new-school. I thought that was the ongoing trend. But that’s not really the case anymore. Now, flashy uniforms are “in.” When we look back in 10 years though, they’ll  be thought of as dumb. But not now. And everything came to the forefront with Maryland’s new football uniforms. Those are quite possibly the most outrageous unis I’ve ever seen—and the coolest. This is still too much fashion in sports, right? Now I’m left wondering what’s cool—traditional uniforms, old-school ones with a new twist, modern-day ones that aren’t flashy, or flashy ones.  Here’s my boring answer: it depends. Maryland’s were cool for the time being, Georgia’s were blocks of colors. Just weird. As for the Yankees? Still not a pinstripe fan. 

Thumpty dumpty

Wash Post.

Well, the Redskins finally beat the Giants. It’s quite the accomplishment considering they always lose to the G-Men. I don’t know what went wrong for the Giants today. Actually, I do. The injury-riddled secondary made Skins QB Rex Grossman look like the second-coming of Joe Theismann. Eli Manning stunk up the place, and just about everything that could have gone wrong did. Unfortunately the Giants have a ton of injuries. With a  full group, I feel like they would have beaten the Redskins. But no excuses. They need to learn to win with this group, because they are capable of doing so. This coming week will be a time to learn and fix this mess. And next week, we’ll see what this team is really made of. Hopefully it’s more than a team that loses 28-14 to the Deadskins.

What the NBA lockout really means. To me at least.

By now we all know what’s going on with the NBA—a lockout. There probably won’t be a season. As a nearly 20-year-old, it bothers me, but doesn’t devastate me. It’s hard to catch too many games as a college student these days. But for a 10-year-old? Having no season isn’t right. Why that age, though? Well, at 20 and 30, you’ve already established your “fan-ness.” At 8 or 9 or 10, the NBA has the potential to change you, just like any game. Now, I don’t think sports are life. I think they can be a way of life, though, and that’s how sports are for me. Because, as a 10, 11, and 12-year-old I got to watch and follow primetime NBA. It shaped who I am today and I’m sure it did the same for many other kids. By having no NBA season, many areas are obviously being affected. But to me, I’m just thinking of that one child that is being robbed of a life-changing experience—following the NBA. It’s almost been 10 years since I really learned what the NBA was and what it meant and represented—the games, the players, the moments, the excitement. It’s too bad that some 10-year-old is going to see a lockout instead.